Immersion Trip to Quezon city slum, Manila. Sagele Palaamo

What a good experience, I got to learn a bit about the culture and there lifestyle. Some of my praxis class and I all went on an immersion trip to a slum/squatter area in Quezon City and stayed there for two weeks.  We got split up and stayed with a family; we were walking distance though from each other. I stayed in a house that was pretty small compared to the houses here in New Zealand; it was probably the size of my bedroom. One thing I learnt from this experience was to be happy with I got, because even though they didn’t have much they still were grateful for what they had and for life. I noticed was how close they were with each other as a family and how much love they had for others. I remember when I first arrived there my family took me to a local concert they were running to raise funds to help cover some of the costs for someone who needed it for an operation, this inspired me. During my stay the main thing we had for meals was different type of fish, chicken and rice. In the afternoons because it wasn’t so hot a few of us would meet up at the basketball court and have a game with some of the locals, where they used to call some of us Americano. It was funny because I seemed to look a bit like them, if I went into a shop by myself the shopkeepers would start talking to me in Tagalong, the local language that was funny. A song that reminds me of my trip was “treasure” by Bruno Mars it was on repeat everywhere I went and the “gentleman” song by PSY. I am so grateful for the trip and the people who supported me financially and through prayer. I will always remember my time with my family in Quezon Slum.